Free Speech Coalition, the adult industry trade association, has announced the addition of Cutting Edge Testing, a new testing health center located in Sherman Oaks, to its APHSS.org program.

The center is under the direction of infectious disease specialist Dr. Peter Miao. Former Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM clinic) employees Jennifer Mooney and Bobi Seybold comprise the medical support staff at Cutting Edge.

“We are extremely excited to have Cutting Edge added to our list of providers,” said Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke. “Dr. Miao is a well known and well-respected infectious disease specialist who will provide top notch testing and care for our performers. Those are critical components of our APHSS.org program.”

APHSS.org was created to fill the gap left by the closure of the AIM clinic, and to carry on health & safety protocols for adult productions. The program and availability index were developed by FSC, working with legal and medical experts, industry members and Internet technology consultants.

Cutting Edge will provide the most advanced HIV testing available today (PCR- RT-RNA) as well as Chlamydia and gonorrhea at a cost of $120 for the performer panel with an estimated 24 hour turnaround time.

“We have missed providing testing and health services to performers. After spending nine years working at AIM, many of the performers are like family,” said staff member Seybold. “What is really exciting is the quality of care the performers will get from Dr Miao – he’s the best!”

Other APHSS.org providers include AMTC and the Healing Wave Center. APHSS plans to continue to build on their base of testing and health centers including signing on centers in other cities and states. “We heard from performers, producers and agents that they want more choices,” said Duke. “Quality of care is the first priority and there are a number of quality providers eager to work with our industry. We will continue our efforts to find exceptional partners to join our program resulting in an increased number of choices without decreasing the quality of care.”

Performers, agents and producers can go to www.APHSS.org and click “sign-up” to be led through a simple registration process. Other information that is available at the website includes links to testing facilities, FAQs and contact information. Users are encouraged to view the FAQs on the website; if they have further questions, they can contact FSC.

Cutting Edge Testing is located at 5000 Van Nuys Blvd., #202, Sherman Oaks, CA 91403. Contact them at (818) 386-2132, or info@cuttingedgetesting.com.

(Graphic: courtesy of Nevit)

Sometimes the best way to learn how to do something is to look at the mistakes others have made and see how you shouldn't do it. Let’s focus on five of the biggest mistakes that marketers make when trying to take advantage of a cold call opportunity via social media networking sites, targeted mailers or even other traditional methods used in marketing.We've all done these - just remember not to act in haste and remember what an opportunity each call represents. Since they are targeted calls [and they better be ;-D ], make each one carry the weight of a personal meeting.

Mistake #1 - Assume

We all know what happens when we assume. Sadly, many business owners do it all the time and wonder why they aren't getting more positive results from their marketing efforts. You should never assume that people will be interested in what you have to say - or sell. Even if it appears that you have much in common with one another, or that you are in similar business circles and industries, you should never assume that they will return the interest or have the time to make a connection.

SOLUTION: When this happens - and it will - don't let it get you down. When you make your cold call contacts use good manners, offer solid and valuable information and be persistent.

Mistake #2 - No Real Connection

Some marketers work on the 7-11 theory. If you build a store on every street corner, sooner or later they are going to come in and buy something. However, in the world of cold calling, it is important to contact individuals that you share a connection or interest with in some way. Some marketers will just go down a list of names and e-mail addresses or leach onto their friends' social media contact list, spamming their business or website with no real method to their madness.

SOLUTION: Make sure the connection makes sense and is relevant to what you are proposing; either via past relationships, mutual colleagues, niche market or B2B service and need.

Mistake #3 - Be Rude

We all have busy days that get quickly eaten up with e-mails, phone calls and other interruptions. No matter what method you use to approach your prospective contacts, you will be taking time out of their daily schedule. Some marketers are rude, pushy, take too long to spit out what they are trying to propose and/or don't even follow the rules of good business conduct. Think about how you would like to be approached, how quickly you just wish someone would cut to the chase and what you would want to get out of the situation.

SOLUTION: Be considerate, courteous, use good manners, be specific and succinct and make sure to thank your contacts for their time. Good business etiquette goes a long way.

Mistake #4 - Wasting Time

Have you ever sat down to dinner with your family and had it interrupted by a cold call from a telemarketer who wanted to sell you something you couldn't use? How responsive were you to the phone call? How did you react and treat the caller as a result? Why would you expect to be treated any differently by a contact or customer if you bring them an offer that is not worth their while, something they would never be interested in discussing in a million years?

SOLUTION: Contact people that you know will benefit from the proposal, offer, product or service you are selling. Using business-based services like LinkedIn can help you fine-tune the needs and interests of your contact list.

Mistake #5 - Be Cold and Impersonal

A cold call doesn't have to be cold. Some marketers think they will win new customers or clients through the use of canned, spammy wording instead of targeted, personal messages. Spammy messages are a dime a dozen. Our inboxes are full of them every morning and you only need to take a moment to look at Twitter or Facebook to see pages and pages of poorly worded posts and tweets that quickly become missed opportunities. Think about it from your own point of view: would you respond to a canned message from someone you don't even know?

SOLUTION: Make sure you add a personal tone to each and every contact you make. Target your message as much as possible to each individual in a unique way to increase response.

Remember that everyone you call should be interested in what you are recommending, and if the timing is not right for them to purchase, how you handle the contact can always make or kill the possibility of referral business moving forward.

Always introduce yourself. I learned that in the fourth grade where we did mock etiquette calls. How many times a day does someone call you and ask for a manager or you by name and not identify themselves? This really puts me off.

Always acknowledge that you understand you are interrupting their work flow, and if now is not a good time to speak ask to set up a scheduled call.

Do your research in advance – be familiar with their website, business model, and problems you could help them solve before you ever dial their number.

Reduce your offer to bullet points, but not to the point that it sounds scripted or read from note cards! Make it conversational.

Above all, LISTEN. Don’t be so focused on your elevator pitch that you miss cues from the prospect because you are not listening to them. Now get on the phone!

New Years are about looking forward and hoping for the best — but some of the most recent new years have been anything but good for the online adult entertainment industry.

That situation, however, may be set to change in 2012, as evidenced by the evolving community buzz about better sales, greater profits and more stability for many operators.

This year’s highly anticipated XBIZ LA digital media conference reflected the hope and change taking shape within our industry today; bringing together a veteran group of elite adult entertainment operators, along with a selection of newer entrants to the field, for an informative, entertaining and relationship-building event that seemed to be better attended and more productive than several other recent adult industry gatherings.

For example, I attended all of the XBIZ LA seminars and noticed that this time it was “standing room only” for the majority of sessions — and those sessions were not a rehash of previous panels and tired information, but a glimpse into the present and future of this industry, along with coping strategies for the challenges and opportunities it presents.

Although some of the topics were a bit controversial and some of the information was highly specialized, the benefits to attendees, I believe, was significant — a sentiment that was repeatedly expressed to me at this event.

While nothing is perfect, and the business’ battles far from over, the overall tone that I received from XBIZ LA was one of cautious but growing optimism, with a feeling that things have finally “bottomed out,” and that the industry has reached a turning point, where the strong have survived — and are now ready to move forward — with XBIZ LA providing the tools and networking venue to help make it all happen…

Sure, I’m biased, but that doesn’t change the fact that XBIZ pulled off another great event and that many folks are anticipating our next show — further reflecting the optimism of the participating players and their long-term plans for corporate prosperity in 2012 and beyond.

Back at the end of October we talked about developing successful mobile applications. Now let’s talk about what happens after you’ve offered that app to all your brand loyalists and new brand converts!

Customer retention is more important than ever these days. While there are millions of users out there who might become customers, today's marketer knows that the smart investment is in keeping customers happy, engaged and recurring. How engaged are your users? How loyal are they to your brand? Have you gone out of your way to offer services that are desirable to your users? …Services and upgrade options that will keep them coming back for more?

This is a vitally important area of any marketing campaign or development project. Think about how you want your customers to use your mobile site and app. Do you want them to access it daily to get updates on news, information or to view fresh content? Will you encourage ease of use that will help to connect them with other aspects of your site and product offerings? Here are some stats that you need to know in order to improve customer engagement and loyalty:

• VISITOR FREQUENCY - You need to know the ratio of visits to actual users over a period of time. Check this weekly, monthly and quarterly. This metric will help you to know how frequently your mobile site or apps are being used and it is essential to understanding your overall user loyalty.
• DEPTH - How deep do your visitors go into your site? Do they just look at one page and then move on? Tracking the number of screens viewed by the average user and then comparing it to the total number of visits will help you to easily see the engagement level of your customers.
• BOUNCE - This statistic can be hard to look at, but it is important just the same. Having a ratio of the single view visits to the total number of visits is important because it shows you how many users are launching the app and then closing it right away again versus how many are launching it and then actually using it.
• DURATION - You need to know how much time your users are spending on your mobile site or using your mobile app. Again, this will show the level of engagement your visitors have with your properties.

What is a Conversion?

Another metric that you need to stay on top of is your conversion ratio. You need to establish the actions you want your customers to take when they use your app and then measure how many of them have "converted" and have done what you desired them to do. A conversion can be any action that you want it to be, such as the purchase of a product, a membership, a registration for a promotional campaign or even the viewing of a gallery or video promotion. Measuring the level of engagement in this area is extremely important if you truly want to measure the success of your mobile marketing campaign. This is true of any mobile property - websites, apps or other SMS promotional campaigns.

To measure the success rate of your mobile project, you need to identify all the different ways your app helps you to achieve your goals. By mapping out the measurement to individual customers who have completed the activities required for conversion, you will be able to see the true value of your project. Think about the various characteristics of your target audience and how you can reach them through your mobile site, app or SMS promotion. If you keep your focus on your target market, you will be able to easily identify the critical elements of success. Also think about the activities you want to make available for your users, how they will generate revenue, save you money or help to brand your business in some way, shape or form.

Retaining Users and Encouraging Usage

If you own a smartphone then you understand how it’s possible for people to download dozens of apps that they ultimately never use! Retaining your customers and encouraging them to use your apps is one of the most important aspects of a successful mobile property marketing campaign. You want to offer features that will be useful and relevant to your users. The best place to start is to think about how your customers will use your app. If your app is highly useful, they will use it more often and will keep coming back on a daily or weekly basis. Here are some things to think about that will help you to encourage use and retain users:

• BE STICKY - We all know about developing a sticky website and it's no different when it comes to mobile property development. You need to find unique ways to keep your app at the forefront of your users' minds and you need to stay on top of it and keep it fresh. You can't stay sticky forever - there's always a newer, bigger and better app being introduced. Take steps to make sure you remind your users that your app exists, keep them informed about the features available for use through the app and stay ahead of your competitors by launching the newer, bigger and better app yourself!
• FEEDBACK - You need to know what your customers think and feedback is an essential part of gaining insight into the true user-experience. Make sure to offer opportunities for your customers to give you feedback, either a simple thumbs-up or thumbs-down metric or an option to send you a paragraph or two in their own words. You can do this via your online app store showcase or via your main or mobile websites.
• DISTRIBUTION - Don't just hope that your customers will find you via the online app store. Make sure to distribute your app freely to as many markets and in as many opportunities as possible. Market your app via traditional websites, mobile websites, offline print marketing - anything you think will get new customers to download and use your app.

You’ve learned over the years how to successfully market your websites, now apply everything you’ve learned about site marketing to your app marketing efforts!

The LA City Council voted this morning, in open session, to approve a mandatory condom ordinancethat would require adult productions to comply with condom usage on any adult set requiring a film permit in the Los Angeles City limits. The ordinance was approved 9-1.

The action was considered procedural after last week the city council green-lighted formation of a committee to decide on enforcement procedures for the ordinance. Reportedly, this committee will be made up of personnel from the City Attorney’s office, LAPD and personnel department, as well as state regulatory officials.

“The Council’s decision is yet another example of government overreach and intrusion. The regulations imposed are without any input from the stakeholders most impacted—adult performers and producers,” Free Speech Coalition Executive Director Diane Duke said. “Mandatory condom regulation will not increase performer safety, it will diminish the successful standards and protocols already in place and compromise performer health. Government regulation of sexual behavior between consenting adults is, and has always been, a bad idea. The government has no business in our bedrooms—real or fantasy.”

The only member of the City Council to vote against the ordinance was Councilman Mitchell Englander, who represents the San Fernando Valley. Clearly, Englander realizes the negative financial impact on the area that may potentially result from today’s unnecessary move toward governmental regulation – especially at a time when the state recently introduced broad funding cuts to many services, and when state regulatory agency Cal/OSHA is reportedly under-staffed and under-funded.

Two other city council members, Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, spearheaded the condom ordinance, in what they termed as an effort to save taxpayer money.

In December, AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) condom ballot petition produced the required number of signatures to make mandatory condoms an issue for Los Angeles voters in June’s citywide elections. In order to save the expense of bringing the issue to the ballot, as well as any litigation that would follow, the City Council moved to enact the ordinance.

Both Rosendahl and Koretz have accepted donations from AHF President Michael Weinstein.

The Los Angeles City Attorney had filed a complaint in December against AHF’s ballot initiative, citing earlier court decisions ruling that Cal/OSHA could not pass regulatory enforcement responsibilities on to local agencies, including the Film LA permitting agency. The City Attorney speculated at that time, if passed, the ballot initiative also would be challenged on constitutional grounds.

AHF and its President Michael Weinstein have waged a relentless campaign against the adult industry since 2009 under the guise of “protecting” performers and the public health. AHF’s efforts were a major factor in the closure of the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare (AIM) clinic, which upheld successful performer testing protocols since the industry moved to self-regulate in 1998. The organization also has filed numerous complaints against adult businesses including Hustler, Vivid and industry talent agencies.

Weinstein’s grandstanding on the condom issue is groundless – using provocative language like “epidemic” and quoting statistics that have proven to be inaccurate – Weinstein has politicized the issue of mandatory condom use while alienating the industry he claims to protect. He also has suggested that the City Council add an $85 fee to film permits for adult productions, in order to fund enforcement.

Currently, Film LA reports that only five percent of total film permits are used for adult productions.

Strangely enough, the City Council actions coincide with major adult industry trade shows scheduled for the month of January. The announcement of last week’s vote to approve the motion to form an enforcement committee came during the XBIZ LA Show, held in West Hollywood. AHF protested at the XBIZ Awards ceremony on January 10, where Hustler founder Larry Flynt and FSC’s Diane Duke were honored, among many other industry leaders and performers.

This morning’s city council vote was taken while many industry members are in Las Vegas for the Adult Entertainment Expo.

The LA City Council today approved a motion to create an ordinance that would require adult productions to show proof of condom use, in order to be issued a film permit.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation’s (AHF) recently gathered enough petition signatures to put mandatory condom regulation through film permits on the ballot for the Los Angeles City election to be held in June. AHF’s President Michael Weinstein also has stated that the HIV nonprofit organization would push to have the condom initiative placed on countywide ballots for the November election.

AHF’s relentless attacks on the adult industry have been orchestrated to portray rates of adult performer STIs as a “public health threat” and Weinstein’s grandstanding on the issues uses emotionally-charged tactics by calling the situation an “epidemic” and by quoting statistics that have proven to be inaccurate.

FSC has led the opposition to AHF’s needless, self-serving anti-adult agenda and also has made every effort to cooperate with state health & safety regulatory agency Cal/OSHA.

“Performer health and safety is a priority for the adult film industry, which is why the industry’s standards and self regulations have been successful as represented by the industry’s low rate of STI transmission and no transmission of HIV in the industry in more than 5 years!” FSC Executive Director Diane Duke stated in response to today’s developments.

“Government regulation of film-making would likely undermine existing health and safety efforts and industry standards that are effective as well as take the government into dangerous new territory.

“This approach betrays our Constitution; it betrays the hard lessons we’ve learned in the 25-year fight against HIV/AIDS; and it betrays aggressive health and safety efforts in place that are proven and effective,” Duke added.

Speculation on actions taken by the City Council today suggests that the council may be taking preemptive steps to prevent the ballot initiative from reaching voters, in order to prevent cost to taxpayers from the election and – if the initiative was passed – any litigation that might follow.

The LA City Attorney had already filed suit to stop the ballot initiative from being considered for the election, citing that if the initiative were passed by voters, it would likely later be brought to court – and lose – on Constitutional grounds.

Two City Council members, Bill Rosendahl and Paul Koretz, have received generous donations from AHF’s Weinstein. Both men spearheaded the effort to quash the City Attorney’s lawsuit.

AHF has stated that they will protest tonight at the XBIZ Awards, to be held at Santa Monica Airport’s Barker Hanger, where Hustler founder Larry Flynt will be honored with the Icon Award, and where FSC’s Duke also will receive the Woman of the Year Award.

(Photo: Courtesy of NASA)

And, once again, we all head to XBizLA and whatever other shows that we need to attend in the New Year! 

We all love going to see our B2B partners and affiliates.  To meet new-comers and revive old relationships.  The shows are truly one of the things that drive our industry and create this odd set of bedfellows we call "The Adult Industry".

The goal of this post is to offer any new-comers (and maybe a reminder to old-timers) some helpful hints to make your show experience as enjoyable and profitable as possible.  Based on 15 years of my observations speaking and moderating at adult and tech shows, here are a few chestnuts of common collective wisdom to consider:

- Plan Ahead.
If you have not done so already, set up a few meetings with key strategic partners for the show.  And, as you go through the XBizLA show and meet new people, try to set up meetings with them for the other shows that are coming during the rest of the first quarter of 2012.  Focused "Face Time" is the Holy Grail for these shows, and you taking the initiative to set up lunches, dinners and even coffee breaks show you as an organized and dedicated professsional.

- Bring Your Bling
As strange as it might sound, over the past 15 years I have seen countless people show up at shows with either no business cards, or not enough to last for the duration of the show.  Do yourself a favor and bring along a box of 500 biz cards.  You won't use them all in one show, but the next show is right around the corner.  And, a few "business card" tips":
1) When someone hands you a business card, be sure to write a few notes on the back of it at the end of the conversation about the essence of the conversation and any follow up needed. If you neglect that, you probably won't remember the conversation a week later;
2) When you have your own business cards printed, go for it with fancy glossy design on the front of it.  Holographs! 3D! Go for it.  BUT - make sure the back of the card is plain white stock that other people can write on.  I can't even begin to count the number of glossy black biz cards on both sides I have been handed at shows that look like American Express Centurian Cards, but, having no way to make a note on the back of it, have no idea at all who this person was, so it went into the trash bin.

- Eat, Drink and be Hydrated
The old axiom for trade shows, Burning Man and camping trips is "Eat more than you think you need, and drink more water than you think you can drink".  Trade show environments tend to be devoid of humidity.  Add to that, drinking way too much booze and you have a recipe for  dehydration, headaches, and not being on top of your game. Specific Hint for XBizLA: There is a Walgreens/CVS right across the street from the Sofitel.  Do what I do and make that your first stop to load in a case of bottled water, a gallon of orange juice and any carbs you desire to take into your room (avoiding Sofitel $7 per bottle water!). They also have large bottles of booze at discount prices.......

- Casual Sex
My observation is that no one at a trade show has had casual B2B sex since around 2001.
Don't bother even trying. You'll get the rumor mills going about you being a sleaze bag.
If ya need it that bad, the Yellow Pages are right in the top dresser drawer beside your hotel bed.  Turn to "E" -- look for "Escorts".  Save yourself the humiliation. Women In Adult are not what you want to try to pick up. They are more professional and intelligent than most of the men in this industry and will burn you down in a heartbeat.

- Early To Bed, Early To Rise
Let's face it. No wonderful business deal hatched at 2am at a party after 19 drinks and an ounce of coke ever gets remembered the next day.  Some of my best deals EVER have been made over breakfast at 9am while things are still quiet at the shows and everyone present has a clear head.  Sure, the parties are great, but I suspect the reason we go to the shows is to create new business.  As a rule of thumb, if you have not gotten it done by 9pm, you are just partying like a Frat Boy/Girl, so don't expect much ROI for those late-night conversations.

- Seminars are Important
One of the key elements in all trade shows are the seminars where industry leaders give some information and hints to the current trends to pay attention to.  Go to as many as you can.  There generally isn't much going on during the day anyway and, assuming you were not out until dawn sucking down shots at a titty bar with a gonzo producer named Floyd from Miami that has the "Best MILF HUGE TITTY Gal EVER", get your butt out of bed, have breakfast with a new B2B possible collaborator, and then have seat in the seminar rooms with a cup of coffee and a bottle of water.

- On The Way Home
I have the travel issue of living in New Hampshire, so any show I go to generally involves 5-10 hours on a plane after the show.  What I always do is pull out all those business cards and notes and do a "Triage" on the plane for what I need to follow up on when I get back to the office.

- Follow Up
Traditionally, the most pitiful aspect of the Adult Industry is the lack of follow-up on conversations that took place at trade shows.  This works to your benefit.  After giving things 4-5 days to settle down after the show, start that follow up and don't give up on any leads until they seem to be going nowhere.  Again, you will "rise above the pack" by doing this and demonstrate being professional and dedicated.

That should do it for the basic strategy.  Oh, and when you see Helmy, Moe, Kristen or any other future show organizer, take a minute and say "thanks" to them.  You can't even imagine the work and such they put into these things for all of us and they really appreciate a pat on the back.

See you at XBizLA!

Colin

Free Speech Coalition (FSC) is proud to announce new members to its Board of Directors. The Board election was open to all active FSC members and held during the month of December.

Incumbent board members that were re-elected include Evil Angel General Manager Christian

Mann and El Dorado Trading Co. founder Larry Garland.

Adam and Eve General Manager Bob Christian is newly elected to the FSC Board. Adult entertainment performer and director Kara Price also was elected.

“Bob brings a strong business component to the Board, while Kara will bring a performer perspective,” said FSC Executive Director Diane Duke. “Those skills coupled with their leadership ability will be a valuable addition to FSC’s Board.”

Members of the board in good standing include Peter Acworth, Jeffrey Douglas, Mara Epstein, Sid Grief, Alec Helmy, Joel Kaminsky, Mark Kernes, Reed Lee and Lynn Swanson, bringing the total number of seats to 13. Those elected serve two-year terms.

FSC congratulates its newest Board members – their participation will help FSC to develop resources and better business practices for the adult industry.

(Photo: Some rights reserved by Cemf)

Search engine optimization can be a double-edged sword. If people can't find your website in the search engines, you might as well just give up and go home. However, if you spend more time developing the SEO of your website and neglect the elements and functions that make a good website great, you might as well just throw in the towel again, because you aren't going to win any sales there either…

Businesses spend a lot of time and money investing in website development and SEO. Finding the proper - and professional - balance between these two essential aspects of online e-commerce is the key to your success. You need to make certain that your website is properly optimized for visibility in the search engines, but you also need to make sure that your website makes a solid first impression and can sell.

Designing a Good Website

Think about your own experiences when you have visited various business sites. What elements are important and what elements are essential? We have all visited websites that neglected to add a "Contact Us" link on the home page. We have all visited websites where the navigation just isn't clear or doesn't make sense. And I think we have all been to a website that just didn't have enough information available to help us decide whether or not to make a purchase. You want your customers to be turned on - not turned off…

Oddly enough, website owners have spent tons of money investing in the development of a website only to find out later that it doesn't sell. Before you can do anything you need to make sure that your site is effective. Set goals for your website. Decide whether you want to inform, entertain, educate, sell or generate leads, and then build a site that will help you achieve those goals. Add opportunities for visitors to complete actions, such as registering to receive an e-mail newsletter, downloading some type of content, clicking to give feedback or adding an item to a wish list. All of these activities are indicators of the buyer's interest.

Designing for SEO

A website that is poorly designed, or designed using out-dated methods and code compliance can alienate the search engines. So even if you think you've dotted all your Is and crossed all your Ts, you might be missing something strategically important. Make sure your website does not contain any elements that would undermine all of your sales and SEO efforts. Some elements are so offensive to the engines that they could wreck your rankings and render your site invisible.

Flash is one of those things that can negatively impact the visibility, usability and SEO of your website. As we’ve discussed in other posts, Flash is on its way out - going the way of the dinosaur. Most tablet PCs don't even support it. Frames is another out-dated type of Web design that should have been "gone" a long time ago, but some developers insist on continuing to use it. It is annoying for the user and the search engines just don't like it.

Dynamically generated content once sounded like a good idea, but the data is basically hidden from the search engines. What's the point of having all that great content there if you aren't getting credit for it?  On the other side of the spectrum, a website that is 99% images and 1% poorly written text won't win you any awards or top rankings either. The engines can't read the text if it is included in a graphical image. Make sure you use actual text mixed in with your images to give a balanced and clear depiction of your business and what it has to offer.

Finally, another big mistake is to have hundreds of outbound links posted throughout your site. While you may be trying to offer more information or support to your site's visitors, Google will most likely see all these links and think you are running a link farm. Link farms - in case you didn't know - don't rank well with Google ;-)

Before You Start...

Don't even invest a penny - or a minute of your time - on SEO until you have a website that is user-friendly, current and has the ability to achieve your business goals. Once you have all of that taken care of you can begin to implement your SEO development. Even if your SEO works like magic and you start getting hundreds or thousands of new visitors to your site each day, it won't mean a thing if your site is ineffective and you can't sell a thing.

Design smart and you'll see positive results from your efforts!

Traffic is King! When you’re preparing to launch a pay-per-click or PPC advertising campaign, most of you may typically go straight to Google or some other search engine to get started. But let’s think again; there is another very viable option available for PPC marketing I want you to consider that has proven to be very effective in the last few years.

According to a study this year conducted by SEMPO (Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization) and Econsultancy.com, many of today's top paid search marketers are turning to PPC options at social media networking sites as a complement to their more traditional placements at the top search engine ad networks. In fact, as many as 52% of those surveyed claim to have successfully boosted their PPC results over the last year through the use of social media PPC advertising in conjunction with a search engine PPC advertising campaign.

As more opportunities come available to marketers throughout 2012, and more and more social media networks offer PPC advertising options to their advertisers, the study also reveals that 47% of all North American companies surveyed were currently running PPC campaigns on Facebook, and 27% were running PPC campaigns on LinkedIn. As many as 18% of these companies were also running PPC campaigns at YouTube and another 15% claimed to be advertising at Twitter. In adult this is mimicked by the continued expansion of Exoclick, Ero-Advertising, and AdXpansion to name a few and a host of mobile PPC traffic generators as well. Investigate all the newly developing social options within adult as well. There has been a real consolidation in board traffic, the original adult social option, but alternatives are springing up and gaining traffic; Xbiz.net among them.

Of course these figures are still relatively modest when compared to the sheer volume of companies that utilize PPC advertising campaigns at the major search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo! 95% of all companies surveyed stated they were using Google AdWords and 70% stated that they were using Bing and Yahoo! for their PPC advertising campaigns. I know Yahoo! is friendly to Adult search business, but an issue some of my friends had after driving and successfully converting traffic was that their confirmation mails with usernames and passwords were blocked by their filters causing some real customer service issues! I will investigate to see if that has been resolved. Over half of those Google users also claimed to have used Google's other marketing tools and products, with 74% using the search network, 66% using the keyword-targeted content network and 50% using the site-targeted content network to increase traffic and visibility. These figures for ad dollars spent at the major search engine-based ad networks are consistent with spending seen in 2009 and 2010, as uncovered in the SEMPO and EConsultancy.com report.

However, there are still a lot of companies that spend their PPC ad dollars on smaller search engines such as Business.com and AOL - so there is a trend here that proves that bigger isn't always better. Today's marketers need to make these "roads less traveled" a priority in 2012 in order to make the most of their advertising campaigns. The SEMPO study showed a large increase in the use of social media channel PPC advertising without a decrease in spending on ads in the major search engines or the Google network. The future of PPC looks good ;-D

Key to your success in 2012 will be your ability to cross-utilize the social PPC and traditional PPC networks with complementary campaigns that raise visibility for your brand and drive traffic to your sites. We’ll talk about what to do with that traffic throughout the year. Now get busy!